Facebook removes 32 fake accounts involved in political influence campaign
Facebook has removed 32 fake accounts and pages that it says were involved in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" and political influence campaign to manipulate voters ahead of 2016 US Presidential elections. Though the social media giant hasn't yet attributed the accounts to any group, it says the campaign bears some resemblance to propaganda campaign allegedly run by Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) during the election.
Facebook has been grappling with continuing public backlash
Facebook has been grappling with continuing public backlash for being slow to recognize Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election, along with widespread concerns over its past data-sharing practices. The company's stock has plunged more than 20% since last week after it reported slower user growth and rising costs for security and safety programs to crack down on abuse on its platform.
Fake account holders use VPNs, Internet-based numbers to conceal identity
Facebook said more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the suspect pages, which had names like Black Elevation and Resisters. The organizers behind the accounts went to great lengths to conceal their identities including using virtual private networks (VPNs) software that masks the geographic location of computers, Internet-based phone numbers, and paid third parties to run ads on their behalf, Facebook said.
Fake accounts spent $11,000 to run 150 ads
The fake accounts spent $11,000 to run 150 ads on both Facebook and Instagram between April 2017 and June this year. Facebook previously said roughly 470 fake accounts had spent $100,000 on more than 3,500 ads surrounding the 2016 election. The pages created about 30 events since May 2017. About 4,700 accounts said they are interested in attending the event, the company said.
Fake page 'Resisters' involved in coordinating protest in Washington
One fake page called "Resisters" was involved in coordinating a protest in Washington between August 10-12. The "No Unite the Right 2, DC' event was meant to be a counter-protest to a rally planned by right-wing groups as a follow-up to last year's deadly "Unite the Right" protests in Charlottesville. Fake accounts contacted administrators of five other legitimate Facebook-groups to help plan the counter-protest.
Facebook to contact 2,600 people interested in attending event
Facebook said it had disabled the event and was in the process of contacting nearly 2,600 people who had said they were interested in attending. "We've found evidence of some connections between these accounts and IRA accounts we disabled last year. But there are differences, too. For example, the IP address of both these accounts were different," the company said.
Facebook's major focus to protect integrity of upcoming elections: Zuckerberg
"Facebook has deployed technology tools like artificial intelligence and thousands of people to work on security as the company's "major focus" this year is to protect the integrity of upcoming elections in several countries, including India, on its platform," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said.
